If you are looking for a way to earn extra income or even quit your job and work part-time to bring in a full-time income, the chances are that you’ve encountered any number of home-based business opportunities. Some home-based business opportunities fall into the category of traditional networking marketing, where you sign up with a company to sell products and the opportunity to your network of contacts. Typically, this involves house parties or a variation of house parties, and exhausting your friends, neighbors, and family members with requests to host parties or to give you the contact information of their friends and colleagues.

Increasingly, however, home-based business opportunities are Internet-based. The lure is seductive, in that the idea of building a home-based business with a computer, keyboard, and mouse is extremely appealing. And there is definitely money to be made and many legitimate Web-based opportunities. How, though, do you separate the fly-by-night operations from those that are credible? In two words, it’s marketing and advertising.

The ability to market and advertise a networking marketing plan is key to its growth and success. After all, there’s an enormous amount of competition out there, and the company that has marketing and advertising expertise will always come out on top. So, when you’re looking at home-based business opportunities, the first things to consider are who does the marketing and advertising, and who assumes the cost of marketing and advertising.

When you think about it, it all comes down to synergy. In simple terms, it means that two or more entities come together, and that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In the real world of home-based business opportunities, it means that two or three companies enter into an agreement and form a network marketing company. In the best possible scenario, each of the companies has a specialty. One company might specialize in, for example, wellness products, while another’s expertise might be in helping people build businesses. The third company might be a marketing company that has knowledge and experience in Internet marketing. While each of the three companies has an area of expertise, together they can achieve much more than any of them could separately.

Of the three companies, it can be argued that the marketing company plays the most pivotal role. And, increasingly, Internet marketing companies are partnering with product and business companies to profit from the network marketing opportunity. What does that mean if you’re looking for a good home-based business? It means that you don’t have to do the marketing and advertising yourself. That is a huge plus for any opportunity. After all, you’re probably not a whiz at Internet marketing, so an opportunity that does the marketing and advertising for you will ultimately add to your bottom line. You don’t have to spend a fortune in marketing costs, yet you reap the benefits from their efforts.

Of course, the other two companies involved are also important. Again, if you’re not experienced in setting up and running a business, having a company that specializes in helping people like you create their own businesses is invaluable. Likewise, a company with a desirable product and a sterling reputation will also help you succeed. But when you’re begin reviewing home-based business opportunities, always look at the ways in which the company will promote the product and the opportunity. In doing so, you’ll always come out ahead.

Take this fact. Every year, the companies based in the United States pay out more than 300 billion US dollars in an attempt to convince their consumers to purchase their services and products. They research the market on a very big scale and actually pay their consumers for that. Now you would think why market research companies pay for your opinion?

The market research companies pay you because they value you as a consumer. They need to understand what you as a consumer think and what exactly makes you prefer certain products over the others. Your opinion enables the companies to get their products and services better. They then try to make their products in a way you like them. The better they know you as a consumer, the better are the chances of their making up more money.

Your opinion is precious to the company whose products and services you use. As they spend numerous pounds on advertising after making new products, they wish to know what you as a customer think. They pay you for your feedback in online surveys, discussion forums, product testings and interviews. It works simple. As they pay you, it makes them earn more, they also learn what you prefer and wish for. Thus, the companies are indeed ready to pay more for the valuable consumer opinions.

While marketing the products this way, they are not making any favor to you but actually seeking favors from you. And it is for this favor they pay to encourage you.

This is what is called a perfect business sense. They take the use of internet and online surveys as a continuous and direct channel for the laymen like you and me. Also, paying for online surveys is an inexpensive, competent and very efficient way of assembling quality and much wanted market research. The old fashioned ways of collecting data was expensive because the old ways had a normally less response rate.

There are companies who are ready to pay you up to $ 99 for each online survey. Online surveys are the regular forms that are made by the marketing research companies. They generate them with the aim of getting information on any specific product or service. Further a detailed investigation is performed on your feedback and is passed on to the top companies.

Online surveys are the best way of market research. The great numbers of online survey companies are in fact quite valuable to the businesses. Internet has introduced a new medium for the companies to get the data of market research. As most of the ventures are present on the net, market research by online survey is a fast-evolving field.

Each company has a little different approach to motivate you to make you fill out the online surveys. The one thing that they have in common is that they have a complete registration process and qualification process. Get registered, enter your detailed profile and get a user name and password. Considering your profile the companies make out who is eligible for their surveys.

So, are you ready to take an online survey to prove that your opinion is really worth market research?

Many Americans feel that Marijuana is helping fund the war on terror, but making a war on drugs and keeping Marijuana illegal has not stopped millions of Americans from smoking pot everyday. So what is the answer?

First, why is Marijuana illegal? In the 1930’s William Randolph Hearst, who had significant financial interests in the timber industry testified to congress on the evils of marijuana, saying things like it make people insane and commit acts of cannibalism? at this time very few even knew what it was and to stop people from going insane Congress decided to make it illegal.

The truth is many paper manufacturers were thinking of changing from using trees to make paper to using hemp because it was cheaper and easier to grow and better for the environment, and Hearst stood to loose millions so he used his influence and testimony to help get marijuana banned in the USA.

So now that we know why it was made illegal, we can realize that not only would making it legal in the United States stop terrorist from smuggling it into the USA, but would give us another option to cutting down of millions of trees every year for paper products that can be made better from hemp.

Hemp has thousands of uses that we are unable to exploit because of its illegal status.

During WWII hemp was used for the rigging on parachutes as well as rope and material for uniforms.

Nowadays Marijuana can be used to relieve pain and some of the effect of cancer treatments and old age.

It has been proven to slow down the spreading of Alzheimer’s, relieve the pressure behind the eyes from glaucoma. It also helps relieve migraine headaches and the side effect of cancer treatment.

But until the United States realizes how much money can be made from legalizing it, it will remain illegal.

This is much like the situation with online casinos in the USA. America was sending billions of dollars out of the country and the government needed to do something to keep the money here, so they banned Online Casino and just like online casinos and online gambling I believe one day the government will learn to take advantage of these things instead of just banning them.

Eventually the USA will realize that the best way to stop the flow of money out of the country is not to ban marijuana or online casinos, but to enter the market and compete.

If the USA did what Amsterdam has done the government would make not only billions in Taxes from the sales of Marijuana, but the economy would boom from all the tourism that it would bring in from all over the world.

The truth of the matter is that legalization is inevitable. The attitude of people has changed so drastically over the last 30 years, that eventually when the younger generations start to take over marijuana will eventually become legal because they understand the truth, and that is banning something only makes the market for it stronger.

A business venture can experience cash shortage or difficulty in being liquid even if it has receivables and steady assets that are more than its payables and other liabilities.

There are easy solutions to cash shortage just so a business enterprise can meet its short term obligations like payroll. Among these solutions include loans or short-term borrowing and factoring accounts. Factoring accounts can be done for accounts that are expected to be received by a company during a certain period.

A person who wants to avail of credit through the factoring of his accounts receivable must submit an application form which will then be reviewed by the agency concerned. Once approved, the applicant should consider the terms of the loan proposal and wait for a maximum of seven days within which the agency will con duct a credit investigation. The investigation will cover the applicant’s credit status, tax payments and liens as well as any pending criminal case.

After which, the applicant must submit the original invoices of services rendered or good s delivered. Once the invoices are verified, a fund amounting to about eight percent of the total invoice will be approved and advanced to the applicant. The balance will be held until the invoices are fully paid.

Payments for services rendered and goods delivered will be sent directly to the credit agency which will in turn release the balance of the total invoice less the appropriate payments for their services.

Getting short term financing through factoring of the accounts receivable of a business enterprise can be easily availed of even through the internet. There are credit agencies that have made the process easier by making forms available online. By filling up the form online the applicant can have his accounts receivable assessed before he speaks to a credit representative.

Companies selling services ad well as distributors selling products are eligible for the factoring of their accounts receivable provided the services have already been rendered and the goods already delivered.

This method of accessing easy funding is commonly used by trucking companies who have thousands of accounts receivables in the form of freight bills. However, these companies have to pay their truckers as well as pay business overheads so they cannot wait for a month or more for these bills to be liquidated.

Factoring is an easier way to get additional funding for business compared to the traditional financing methods which require lots of paperwork and long waiting periods. With a meager amount deducted by credit agencies from the invoices, usually one to six percent, small business can already add to their cash flow and can run their businesses efficiently.

Are you looking for a business loan? Many business owners who need financing start their financing search by looking for a business loan or a business line of credit. Although business loans and lines of credit are well known products, they are very hard to get. And in reality, few business owners actually manage to get them.

In certain instances, invoice factoring may be a better and easier to obtain alternative. There are three conditions that can determine whether factoring is a better alternative than a business loan:

1. Are your clients’ slow payments hurting you? Do they take up to 60 days to pay?

2. Are you turning away bigger sales because you lack working capital?

3. With the right financing, does your business have significant growth potential?

If you answered yes to these questions, then chances are that factoring your invoices will be better for you than more traditional business financing products. Invoice factoring provides you with financing based on your invoices, eliminating slow payment cycles and providing you with money to pay rent, meet payroll and expand your business.

Since factoring is tied to your sales potential, it does not have the arbitrary use limits that business loans have. The more your business grows, the more financing you qualify for. Period. This makes it an ideal product for businesses that have significant growth potential.

Factoring (or receivable factoring as it is also known) is easy to use. Once you have invoiced your customers you send a copy of the invoice to the factoring company. The factoring company, in turn, advances you up to 90% of your invoice and waits to be paid by your client. Once your client pays the invoice, the transaction is settled.

In effect, by financing your invoices you eliminate the slow payment problem. You accelerate your cash flow, enabling you to pay your obligations, take new opportunities and grow your company.

In terms of cost, factoring is a very competitive product. Factoring fees range from 1.5% to 3% per month, making it an affordable product. If you own a business that is growing and you need financing, be sure to consider invoice factoring.

The City of Miami, and Miami Beach as well, has always been enshrined in the American psyche as the “nation’s playground”, for its year-round tropical climate, elegant waterfront homes and condos, lively nightlife, world-famous beaches and its vibrant ethnic diversity.

With its Hispanic essence and live-and-let-live attitude and lifestyle, this area is considered as the most “foreign” city in the US. The area boasts of a psychedelic mixture of architecture and nationalities, fashion and food. On South Beach, at the southern end of Miami Beach, the senior citizens and baby boomers that used to come in droves here have been replaced by the young and trendy; stylish Coral Gables now booms with the posh offices of multinational corporate giants.

Topless sunbathing is also tolerated on certain designated areas of the beach. The TV show Miami Vice helped make the area immensely popular. Miami Beach, particularly Ocean Drive of what is now the Art Deco District, was also featured prominently in the Al Pacino movie Scarface.

South Beach is a major late-night haunt, where revelers eat breakfast at lunchtime, and can choose from a wide array of restaurants and cafes serving continental, European, South American and Asian cuisines. One of the beaches’ best food haunts is 11th Street Diner, which is open 24 hours a day and Nemo, along 100 Collins Avenue, for its eclectic cooking focusing on seafood, and outstanding desserts. Visitors could also go for a relaxing swim in the sea or in a pool at any of the over-the-top hotels on South Beach, like at the Marlin hotel, or in the extravagant Venetian Pool in Coral Gables. Most visitors would say that it’s a public pool that looks like a Hollywood film set.

A major player in the pop-music world, Miami in general, and South Beach in particular, loves to party. The best clubs are on Washington Avenue, South Beach. Clubs like Crobar, The Mansion, Opium Garden and Shadow Lounge, and a lot more, are filled up on weekend nights, while on nearby Ocean Drive, one could hear live bands clutter the outdoors.

Miami, as well as Miami Beach, may not be like Los Angeles or New York, cities where movies are constantly being shot around every corner. However, Miami has certainly has its fair share of filming. The movie Scarface, which is considered a cult classic, is a tale about Tony Montana, played by Al Pacino, who comes to Florida as a Cuban refugee. After becoming a gangster, as a result of the 1980s cocaine boom, he rises to the top of Miami’s organized crime world, only to fall back down.

Most of you would still remember the equally zany film, There’s Something About Mary. One of the funniest movies to ever hit the screen, this film starred Cameron Diaz as Mary, a girl whom men were willing to go to great lengths to impress. Among the Hollywood blockbusters shot on location in Miami Beach and its environs are the Al Pacino football thriller Any Given Sunday, as well as the Martin Lawrence and Will Smith action-flick Bad Boyz.

Am I alone in being frustrated on an almost daily basis when dealing with suppliers? I’m convinced the ‘who cares’ attitude is spreading like an epidemic. Let me give you a quick run down of just one of this week’s fiascos to demonstrate what I mean.

A package from one of my suppliers was overdue for delivery from a well known courier company, even though the tracking showed that it had been sitting on a shelf in the local depot for several days. Now, I live in a reasonable size city, Salt Lake City in fact, which has a decent size population and infrastructure &ndash heck, there’s even an IKEA, and there ain’t many of those across the U.S. I’m not talking about Barstow here (no offence to Barstow readers, I’m not picking on you, I promise).

Anyway, so I get on the phone with the ‘customer service’ advisor who tells me that they only deliver on certain days of the week - I’m serious! Apparently however, I’m permitted to trudge the 15 miles out there to collect the package if I want it before they were ready to find a slot in their random delivery schedule.

I considered pursuing the line of reasoning that since I’d paid for two day shipping, I’d kinda’ hoped that I’d see it within 2 days of ordering, but I thought better of it. I didn’t want to appear unreasonable or demanding. Instead I bit my tongue and dutifully trotted off down to the depot and stood my turn in line until permitted to utter my request.

Not much to do while waiting, other than eavesdrop on a phone conversation between a customer and a ‘support’ rep. Obviously I couldn’t hear the customer, but fortunately in this instance, the rep had a habit of repeating the caller almost verbatim, which under normal circumstances would have been highly irritating.

Anyway, I digress. This is how the conversation went:

“So you’re saying that the driver threw the box over your fence, is that right?”

(customer replies)

“Well, obviously I wasn’t there, but I’m sure he just wanted to make sure the package was hidden from the view of any passers by.”

(customer replies)

“Oh, you’re saying the fence is 7ft high?”

(customer replies)

“And the antique set was smashed?”

(customer replies)

“Mmm, that happens a lot. I hope it was insured.”

I’m not making this up, I wish I was. At that point I was feeling absolutely thrilled that I’d escaped with only having to go outside in the freezing cold in the middle of the winter and drive 15 miles - it was a relief to know that I’d intercepted the sequence of doom, before my box had got to the throwing over the fence part.

I got my box, and little did it know that it had been spared the physical trauma that apparently was a standard feature. I didn’t even throw the box away after emptying its contents, it seemed cruel, it needed protecting…

Okay, so I got a little carried away, but actually I’m deadly serious about the lesson here. Customer service is such a rare commodity that it’s in danger of becoming extinct.

Let’s face it, the times when we experience great service with a smile are now so rare that we tell everyone, and they’re suitably impressed.

If providing outstanding customer service and keeping customers happy is a high priority for you and your staff, you’ll immediately put your business a giant leap ahead of all your competitors. It’s such a ridiculously simple principle to comprehend, but sadly many more overlook it than ‘get it’. Be one of the ones who gets it. Give it time and your business will explode over the long-term, I guarantee it.

In the first article we looked at how many first time (and experienced!) sales people can be held back from achieving success because of the fears they may have on getting out there and selling.

In the previous article I highlighted 6 main selling-related fears: failure; image or self belief; rejection; lack of product knowledge; criticism; presentation. Each of theses fears on their own can cause a breakdown in the sales process and prevent you from confidently tackling another prospect.

In this article I will look at how you can address these fears head-on; what you can do to face your fears and banish them for life!

Fear of Failure

Undoubtedly the biggest fear most people in selling, and business have is the fear of failure. There is nothing more demoralising than a continual lack of success! Fear of failure has been ingrained from school &ndash remember all those tests when the results were read out for all the class to hear? If you had a poor result, you never felt like trying again! But, don’t be like Homer Simpson when he tried to consol his son Bart who had failed in his bid to be class president,

“You tried and you failed. The lesson is … never try.”

So, what can you do to conquer your fear of failure? The bottom line is that you need a rock solid positive attitude. You must have an inner voice which is continually pushing you onto the next prospect and saying, “Come on, let’s find the one who’s going to say yes!”

Failure has to be seen as a learning opportunity. In every failure, there is a nugget of information, which next time, can point you in the direction of better success. James Dyson, the inventor of the revolutionary vacuum cleaner, summed up the need for a positive attitude, when he said, “Success is made up of 99% failure. You galvanise yourself and you keep going as a full optimist.”

Image Fear

Not everyone has boundless self-confidence. When you start out in business, there is sometimes a nagging doubt that you may have bitten off more than you can chew. This inner doubt chips away at your self confidence and soon you have a poor self image, which reflects in your sales pitch. To be a successful salesperson you have to have a strong self image.

To improve the image you have of yourself, follow these steps:

Write down the qualities which you believe a successful salesperson should possess. Try and limit the list to 4 or 5 key qualities

Find a quiet spot and relax your body and mind with deep and steady breathing

Once you are totally relaxed recite the strong, self image qualities you identified earlier

Imagine or visualise yourself possessing each of these qualities. See in your minds eye how you look, now that you have these qualities. See how successful you are, how you look, and the car you are driving, where you are living

Repeat to yourself that you are assuming each of these qualities and becoming a better person with each day that passes

Repeat this exercise first thing in the morning and last thing at night and you’ll soon find your self image and confidence levels increasing!

Fear of Rejection

Closely linked with the fear of failure is the fear of rejection. Hearing the response “No” is not a great motivator! The main way to deal with rejection is just to accept that it happens. Try and re-frame any rejection you get by saying to yourself that it’s the customer who loses out, not you. Walk away with a smug smile on your face and remind yourself that you are one step closer to someone who will say “Yes”.

Product Knowledge Fear

A lack of in depth knowledge about your product or service quickly finds its way to making for a poor presentation. There is only one solution … and that’s to get learning! Absorb yourself in the product. Understand all the features and benefits, so that you can confidently talk about all aspects of your offering. Banishing this fear is one of the easy ones to put right.

Criticism

No one likes to be criticised, especially if you have tried your hardest. Unless you are very thick-skinned, harsh criticism can knock you back. If you carry out the exercises on improving your self-image, your ability to take criticism will also improve. Decide to view criticism more as feedback than a direct attack on you. There is usually some element of truth in the majority of critical comments and it’s important that you take the opportunity to learn and change.

Presentation Fears

You may know all the features and benefits of your product but, like an actor, you suffer from stage fright! The presentation fear can be down to a lack of structure around your sales process. Write a basic outline on how you wish a perfect sales pitch to go. Prepare a script for the key parts of the presentation and rehearse, rehearse, rehearse!

Why not ask someone to help you role play a sales presentation? This will give you the opportunity to make all the mistakes you want but in a risk-free environment! You should also visit your local Business Link office and see what courses they are running on sales skills. Look out for books and tapes on effective selling. All of these actions will assist in improving your confidence and result in a more professional sales presentation.

Selling does not have to be a fearful experience! If you have the right attitude, a strong self belief, a full understanding of your product and plenty of practice, then you will have nothing to fear. So, take a look at each of these fears and put a plan in place to tackle them today!

Once I’ve read a book the millionaire next door that mentioned about the attitude of rich people who were frugal and financially fit. They were compared to those who were physically fit and exercise regularly. Isn’t it those who have those bulges have to exercise to burn those calories? It is ironic that those who need exercise are the one’s who were not doing it. Likewise, people who were affluent, I mean those people who became rich through hard work are very careful on their expenditures. They live below their means. And this does not include Hollywood superstars who became wealthy or those who won the lottery who became instant millionaires.

People from rich nations like the United States and Japan where, despite all their wealth, They would still keep every penny and yen they get. In the US, It is not unusual for a man to have a coin purse so they would be able to pay the exact amount most of the time. The Americans and Japanese, despite their affluence, would not pay one penny or yen more than the actual price of any merchandise and would similarly demand that they get no less than their exact change.

And why do you think many Americans spend time clipping discount coupons out of newspapers? For them any discount, even if it is just 10 cents, still means they will be paying a little less for an item. If all discounts are added up, that can mean a pretty respectable saving. They would go to supermarket with the coupons they clipped and use them when paying for their purchases.

Sad to say this will not happen to my country. No one will go to the supermarket with a bag full of coupons. I myself won’t bother to go to the store with those coupons. We even have a calendar from popular drug store with discount coupons. Maybe because the value of our currency is too low to give attention to or is it amor propio? (pride?) Culture? Whatever! No wonder we are still a third world country. A discount is a discount, even 1 centavo, 2 centavo, 3 centavos and so forth. And how much more if it is a freebie? Free stuffs or corporate give away. That doesn’t mean that people who patronize them can’t afford those items. It only shows that they value their money. Getting free samples so just in case they don’t like the product, no one will be blamed for not buying a better one.